Portland Thorns Supporters Finally Have a Hangout to Call Their Own

Gabby Rosas knows where she’ll be before Portland Thorns games: seated behind a rainbow array of scarves, Little Beirut jacket patches, and wooden bottle openers in a supporters’ clubhouse called The Axe & Rose.

“If you’re new to the town,” Rosas says, “or if you’re new to the club and you want to figure out where are the people? The people are here.”

They sure are.

On a May afternoon before a match against Orlando, fans are streaming into the 20,000-square-foot warehouse to peruse the Thorns and Timbers merchandise Rosas and a couple of fellow 107ist members oversee. Others have made their way back to Legends, the bar in the back of the venue, and are sipping Gigantic IPAs out of clear plastic cups as they watch replays of the Thorns’ recent 4–1 victory over NJ/NY Gotham FC. Still others gather by bookshelves in the back, catching up by some PTFC coloring sheets and an accompanying box of crayons. Occasionally, a cowbell rings and everyone erupts into cheers.

Even the Rose City Riveters’ game day crew—the people who set up the North End with banners and flags—swung by earlier, Rosas explains. “They’ve started some rituals. They break bread—they have a snack or a meal together before they head into the stadium. I think that’s really cool.”

For years, you could find the 107ist—the nonprofit that runs the Timbers Army and Rose City Riveters supporters groups—standing, singing and chanting in the North End of Providence Park. Before the games and after? They were scattered across Burnside bars from Mazatlan to Wildwood.

But this season, the action is kitty-corner to the stadium, in a clubhouse at 1737 SW Morrison St. that contains a shop, library and bar. Since October, it’s been the fan-run space for Portland soccer fans. And its offerings are only growing.

Before The Axe & Rose, the 107ist’s operations were scattered across Goose Hollow, with activities like banner and tifo painting run out of a warehouse space and pre-match events operating out of a venue called the Fanladen on Southwest Alder Street at 17th Avenue. But last year, the nonprofit began renting the warehouse from Harsch Investment Properties, the real estate company owned by philanthropist Jordan Schnitzer.

The move also allows the Riveters to feel on equal footing with the Timbers Army within the 107ist, Rosas says. Previous 107ist venues were first home to the Army, with the Riveters trying to squeeze into empty rooms and make an already established clubhouse feel like their own. It’s a situation that naturally rose out of the Army predating the Riveters, but Rosas says Fanladen always “felt like a little-sister situation.”

“This physical space is important because it’s ours,” says Sheba Rawson-Ybarra. Rawson-Ybarra has been involved with the 107ist for the past two decades and currently helps with membership signups. And since it belongs to supporters, they’re the ones who get to establish what the space is, to make it a community. “The one thing we don’t tolerate is intolerance,” Rawson-Ybarra says.

The biggest draw of the venue was its location, Rosas says. From the northeast entrance to Providence Park at Gate D, fans on the sidewalk can catch a glimpse of The Axe & Rose storefront, which is open to the public and features supporter-designed Timbers and Thorns merchandise. It’s designed for easy access—a flat journey from the courtyard seating area at the main entrance—and intentionally laid out to avoid congestion if (or when) fans use it as a gathering place.

Most of the current happenings—merchandise sales, donation drives for local organizations, gathering with fellow supporters—revolve around Thorns and Portland Timbers match days. The venue opens a couple of hours before the game, closes up half an hour before kickoff, and then reopens for about an hour after matches—but without the pregame alcohol offerings.

“Everything we do—selling drink tokens, signing people up, selling merch—helps us pay for the space,” Rosas says, “but also helps us make donations to the community and helps us do more programs within our space.”

For the quieter supporters, the Booked! lending library also operates on the premises. The soccer-specific collection hosts book club events—often bringing in the book’s author for discussion—and its offerings range from Gwendolyn Oxenham’s Under the Lights and in the Dark to Ken Besinger’s Red Card. The area is open to members and nonmembers alike and is located by two gender-neutral restrooms, a community bulletin board, and a trophy case of Timbers and Thorns memorabilia.

For those interested in taking a seat alongside fellow PTFC fans, The Axe & Rose features Legends, a volunteer-run bar space. The ceiling is adorned with soccer scarves, Pride flags and a Black Lives Matter flag, with a bar in one corner and screens showing replays of recent Portland soccer games throughout the venue. A drink here runs from $3 to $6, less than half the price of an adult beverage inside Providence Park.

“I really like the atmosphere,” says Megan Lallier-Barron, a regular pre-match Legends patron. “It’s one thing to support a sports team, but the Riveters also have a community aspect. It’s not just like we have a common interest. It feels like it goes beyond that.”

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It requires a little investment. Due to Oregon Liquor and Cannabis Commission rules, Legends is a members-only space. Those who don’t want to commit to a membership—whether they’re visiting from out of town or just on the fence—can purchase a day pass for $10. The 107ist also offers fans the option of converting a day pass into a yearly membership, so they just have to pay the $20 difference rather than the full $30 fee.

And when you sign up for a membership, you get to ring the cowbell.

“I’ve always believed that supporters can change the world,” Rosas says. “I feel like the space puts some real juice behind that.”

GO: The Axe & Rose, 1737 SW Morrison St., 107ist.org/AxeAndRose. Hours vary.